Raonic, Pospisil broach second round in Ohio
Canadians face ‘tough’ rivals in next step up
MASON, OHIO — Fresh off their inspired performances at the Rogers Cup, Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil are into the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
Raonic, who dropped Sunday’s final in Montreal to Rafael Nadal, defeated Jack Sock 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday night to advance.
“Mentally I felt good; it was a bit about getting used to the conditions and the environment,” Raonic said of his slow start against the American. “I stuck through it and in the second set, I stayed positive and started to play a bit more aggressive.”
The 12th seed from Thornhill, Ont., Raonic lost to Sock in Memphis in February after winning in San Jose the previous week for the third year running.
Raonic, now ranked a careerhigh 10th on the ATP Tour after beating Pospisil in the Rogers Cup semifinals, disposed of Sock in just under two hours. He will meet Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in the next round.
“Tipsarevic will be a tough opponent,” Raonic said. “I’ve got to keep doing what I’ve been doing, clean up my service games a bit and get better at closing it out.”
Pospisil, now also ranked a career-best at No. 40, advanced when France’s Gilles Simon retired with an injury.
Simon was trailing 6-3, 1-1 when he ended the match.
“It was a strange match,” Pospisil said. “I started out well, but I noticed that something was going on with him. I think it might have been the hip.
“It was difficult to play from that point. It was fortunate for me.”
The Vancouver resident needed just 36 minutes to sweep the opening set against Simon, who lost his fifth match in a row and hasn’t won since mid-June.
Pospisil faces Belgium’s David Goffin in the next round.
“The match will be tough and I don’t see a clear favourite,” Pospisil said. “He’s a dangerous player, very talented, and has beaten some top players. We’ll have to see.”
Meanwhile, John Isner defeated Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4, and Grigor Dimitrov defeated Brian Baker 6-3, 6-2. Third-seeded David Ferrer edged Ryan Harrison 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4.
On the women’s side, Maria Sharapova’s return to WTA tournament play after more than a month away was shortlived following an upset loss to 17th-ranked American Sloane Stephens 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
In a match that lasted two hours, 22 minutes, Stephens overcame double faults on two match points to pick up her first victory over Sharapova in four meetings.
“No one beats me four times in a row, so I had to win tonight,” Stephens told a television interviewer after the match.
Sharapova, the 2011 W&S champion and a 2010 finalist, showed no traces of the hip injury that had kept her sidelined since a second-round loss at Wimbledon.
Jimmy Connors, who won the tournament 41 years ago, watched from the stands in his first match as Sharapova’s coach. She hired Connors, the 1972 champion and a 1986 finalist, in mid-July.
Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka held off an upset bid by qualifier Vania King to pull out a 6-1, 7-6 (6) win and advance to the third round.
Varvara Lepchenko advanced with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win over Flavia Pennetta and Jamie Hampton needed three sets to overcome Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Alize Cornet rallied past Ana Ivanovic 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Sorana Cirstea, the 21stranked Romanian who lost to No. 1 Serena Williams in the finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday, withdrew from her first-round match against Yanina Wickmayer.
No. 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki easily advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Shuai Peng.